1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a shock absorbing hammer, comprising a shaft and a hammer head being provided with a shock absorbing material, e.g. in the form of a rubber material, a hydraulic cushioning material or the like, the purpose being to dampen the rebound force and vibrations imparted to the shaft when the hammer head hits an object during a swinging motion of the hammer.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many examples of hammers of this general kind, see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 2,451,217, U.S. Pat. No. 3,172,438, U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,784 and SE-B-462,616. The last-mentioned document discloses a hammer, wherein an end portion of the shaft is mounted in a recess in the hammer head so as to permit a limited pivotal movement, being damped by a shock absorbing material, in one angular direction from a rest position when the hammer head strikes an object during a swinging motion of the hammer, whereas mutual movement in the opposite angular direction from said rest position is inhibited. Accordingly, the hammer can either be used in the normal way for striking an object, e.g. a nail, with the hammer head or, alternatively, for withdrawing a fastener, e.g. a nail, by means of a claw portion at the back of the hammer head.
However, this known hammer is relatively complicated in its structure, namely with radially projecting lugs formed at the shaft end portion in order to ensure a direct surface contact between the shaft and the hammer head inside the recess, the latter being substantially parallel to but wider than the shaft end portion. In some embodiments there are also internal, especially adapted recess portions, in addition to a simple cylindrical bore in the hammer head, which make the production thereof even more complicated and expensive.